Phase-Change Cavitation Agents for Ultrasound Thrombus Disruption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for disrupting blood clots using ultrasound and cavitation enhancing agents lack precision in timing and energy application, leading to suboptimal clot disruption due to inefficient delivery and activation of phase-change cavitation agents.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the controlled administration of phase-change cavitation agents, such as nanodroplets and microbubbles, into blood vessels, where ultrasound energy is applied in specific sequences and durations to ensure the agents reach and effectively disrupt blood clots, utilizing monitoring to optimize timing and energy levels for clot penetration and fragmentation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If ultrasound energy is applied immediately after administering cavitation enhancing agents, then clot disruption can be initiated, but the agents may not have reached the clot yet leading to ineffective treatment
Solution Approach 1:
The system administers the cavitation enhancing agents into the blood vessel before applying ultrasound energy. The monitoring system tracks the agents' transit to the clot, and only after confirmation of arrival does the system activate ultrasound energy application. This preliminary administration and monitoring phase ensures the agents are in position before the disruptive action begins, resolving the contradiction between needing time for agent delivery and the desire for immediate clot disruption.
2Loss of time
If high power ultrasound energy is applied to rapidly disrupt the clot, then treatment time is reduced, but bioeffects on healthy tissue increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses monitoring to detect the presence and location of cavitation enhancing agents, then applies ultrasound energy specifically at the location where agents are detected (at the clot site). This localized energy application ensures that high power ultrasound is delivered only where needed for clot disruption, minimizing exposure of surrounding healthy tissue to harmful bioeffects while maintaining effective treatment duration.
3Reliability
If ultrasound energy is applied continuously to ensure complete clot disruption, then treatment effectiveness is maximized, but energy consumption and potential tissue damage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates a monitoring system that continuously detects the presence, location, and activity of cavitation enhancing agents. This feedback information is used to control the ultrasound energy application - the system activates energy delivery when agents are detected at the clot, adjusts application based on agent activity, and can terminate when disruption goals are achieved. This feedback-controlled approach ensures complete clot disruption while minimizing unnecessary energy consumption and reducing potential tissue damage from prolonged exposure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enhances the precision and effectiveness of clot disruption by ensuring the cavitation agents penetrate and activate within the clot, minimizing bioeffects on healthy tissue and improving clot lysis efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
The term 'phase-change cavitation enhancing agent' is used herein to refer to a solution including one or more particles, each of which has a core consisting at least partially of a material that is in a liquid phase
Implementation Method 2
Phase-change cavitation enhancing agents are unique in that they are not acoustically active until they are triggered with sufficient energy to cause a phase transition
Implementation Method 3
monitoring the at least one cavitation enhancing agent includes transmitting ultrasound energy into the blood vessel, detecting ultrasound energy scattered by the at least one cavitation enhancing agent, and determining a location of the at least one cavitation enhancing agent within the blood vessel based on the detected ultrasound energy
Data Source
AI summary
A method for disrupting a blood clot with ultrasound and at least one cavitation enhancing agent includes administering at least one cavitation enhancing agent into a blood vessel of a subject. The method further includes monitoring the at least one cavitation enhancing agent to determine when at least a portion of the at least one cavitation enhancing agent has reached a blood clot. The method further includes controlling application of ultrasound energy to the at least one cavitation enhancing agent within the blood vessel of the subject such that, during a first time period, cavitation-enhancing ultrasound energy is not applied to the at least one cavitation enhancing agent within the blood vessel and, during a second time period after the first time period, cavitation enhancing ultrasound energy is applied to the at least one cavitation enhancing agent within the blood vessel.